Global Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Building the Future of Workforce

Program
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Why Global EIR?

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
- Nelson Mandela -

FFI@University is the Global Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program, managed by the Friends For Impact, Inc., a 501(c)3 organization for public interest, registered under New York State’s Not-for-Profit Corporation Laws. 

The Program empowers Global Entrepreneurs from anywhere in the world, by providing them with access to Global resources and Trusted networks in New York, so they could ignite their inner fire and activate their hidden potential, and build their business which could sustain. This program also suits with those entrepreneurs who are researchers and want to bring science innovations from lab to market. 

The Program currently works with Universities in New York and look forward to continuing to expand our horizon in the future.

Note: The Program is an IP of Design Your Venture School. The Program’s License Right and Fee are being supported by Friends For Impact, Inc.

Our program adheres to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Certification

We partner with Universities in New York to provide Global Entrepreneur-in-Residence (Global EIR) Program. The Program currently offers Certification of Lab-to-Market Innovation. 

The Global EIR Program focuses on bridging the gap between Lab and Market. The program requires entrepreneurs to actively run a Crowdfunding campaign and Read market demand in the same time, including launching a minimum viable product, continuously monitoring market demand, raising public awareness and gaining public support for successful commercialization.

The program is designed as a hands-on, practical and experiential education, based on the Lean Startup Methodology. Entrepreneurs work with Industry Mentors, Fundraising Experts and Interns to conduct customer discovery, validation, prototyping and product iteration, to build and launch their business with set timeline and deadline. 

Program Overview

- Acquire Paying Customers and Crowdfund -

a Personalized Approach with Executable Strategies and Generative AI Toolset

Methodology

The program trains entrepreneurs to acquire paying customers and crowdfund for their business with a personalized approach using Executable Strategies and Generative AI Toolset. Fieldwork activities are required so they can practice, get real outcomes, and replicate the same approach, strategies and toolset in next phases.

The program is designed as a virtual, cohort-based program, with option to meet in person. For international entrepreneurs, the program also facilitates an optional visit to New York to attend the course at our selected universities of the City University of New York.

Certification of Lab-to-Market Innovation will be provided by respective university and FFI@University for those Founders who graduate successfully from the Program.

Goal: Survive & Sustain

The Program focuses on helping Entrepreneurs to:

  1. Acquire paying customers.
  2. Raise fund from market.

Why?

Failure is most common thing for startups – about 90% of startups fail. Statistics show that, about 10% of startups fail within the first year. According to CBInsights, top 3 reasons why startups fail are:

  • The number one reason is due to misreading market demand – 42% of cases.
  • The second largest reason is due to running out of funding and personal money – 29% of cases.
  • The third reasons is a weak founding team or founders’ breakup – 23% of cases. 

As for the third reason, we believe that a team is not required in our Global EIR Program, as solopreneurs do work well. Having a compatible team is great, but having an unsuitable team is worse. Unless our entrepreneurs have the need to team up, team is not required.

How Strategy & Generative AI can help?

The program focuses on fieldwork activities using Executable Strategies and Generative AI Toolset, to acquire paying customers and crowdfund. Specifically, 

  1. Craft their personalized Storytelling about Why they want to build the business and product. Know how to apply Generative AI tools to get detailed guidance and create Story contents.
  2. Pitch their products to investors for Funding, or to customers to get Pre-orders, aka Presales. Know how to apply Generative AI tools to get detailed guidance on Sales and create Pitch deck. Know how to apply Generative AI tool to master public speaking skills.
  3. Personalize their Personal Marketing strategies and setup Sales funnel to generate sales from new customers and return customers. Know how to apply Generative AI tools to create marketing materials to save time and cost.
  4. Crowdfund for their business by Reward-based tactic or Presales tactic. Know how to apply low-cost Marketing tactics and leverage available Crowdfunding platform to fundraise from outside circles. Know how to build a Community of backers and turn them into ambassadors and loyal customers. Know how to apply Generative AI tool to write content of the Crowdfunding campaign and understand customer feedback.
  5. Reach to Angel Investors/ VCs to build network and trusted relationships for next fundraising rounds down the road.

What to expect upon graduation?

Entrepreneurs are required to achieve below Quantified Outcomes:

  1. Launch an MVP, a new business or new product line.
  2. Gain Traction of minimum 20 end-users; and generate Sales from at least 2 paying customers. 
  3. Raise a minimum Funding of $5,000. 
  4. Be able to personalize their approach to acquire customers and crowdfund, using Executable Strategies and Generative AI Toolset, and know how to replicate the process in the next phase of Commercialization.

If any entrepreneur cannot graduate, she or he can rejoin the Program in the following Cohort at no cost, until they can graduate with confidence.

Who will be benefited?

Our Program is Open to All, who (i) have idea but not product, (ii) have no traction yet or no paying customers yet, (iii) solo entrepreneurs or teams with the objective of creating more than 2 jobs in the next 6 months. 

If an entrepreneur is belonged to Underserved category, i.e. low-income, we will support with full fee reimbursement. For other founders on case by case basis, we will provide partial reimbursement and recognize your contribution to the Program as Donation to support our Underserved Founders.

What to prepare?

Commit to schedule

Core Module consists of a 5-week program, which is designed as a hands-on, practical and experiential education, based on the Lean Startup Methodology. Entrepreneurs work with industry mentors and experts to go from Ideation to launch their Minimum Viable Product and Crowdfund for the business within set timeline. 

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

After Launch

Understand your goals

Entrepreneurs need to clearly understand their goals in terms of life, wealth and business, before engaging in any commitments of time, finance, and effort. Key questions are:

  1. Why do you want to build the business, i.e. what do you want to achieve in terms of Profit, Passion, Purpose? What about your Wealth goal?
  2. What is your Core Power to build the business successfully, i.e. you can survive, sustain and scale?
  3. Who will help you to build the business, i.e. partners, industry experts, mentors? 
  4. How do you plan to build the business? i.e. strategy, roadmap, exit, generational wealth?
  5. Do you plan to scale the business beyond your border? and How?

Select your industry

Entrepreneurs need to explore suitable industries and opportunities based on their Core Power, identify their own Unfair Advantage, and create solution in chosen sector. Examples of solutions:

  1. New Food products or new Lifestyle change services are developed based on scientific discoveries and research findings to enhance nutrition and health value, or to prevent and mitigate health problems, such as Prediabetes, Obesity, etc.
  2. Agriculture, Technology and Food Upcycling are implemented to help reduce food waste, carbon emission, supporting Circular Economy.
  3. Blockchain is used as a tech application to track and trace sources, improve transparency and efficiency of honest supply chain.
  4. Solar is used as an affordable renewable energy resource to help small-scale farmers build Climate resilience, and help them receive climate finance for better and greener livelihoods.
  5. Biotech models of gut immune system are invented to predict and solve emerging infectious diseases and biodefense challenges, including Covid-19.
  6. Other innovations could be Precision nutrition, Immunotherapy, AI-powered Healthcare solutions, EVs, Hydrogen, CPG, E-commerce, Social Commerce, AI-driven Marketing solutions, etc.

Set up your fundraising target

Entrepreneurs need to do research and choose suitable Fundraising target which are aligned with their chosen sector. 

As per our research, 1 in 3 begin their small business with less than $5,000. Recent research has shown the most expensive small businesses and startups to launch are restaurants, medical offices, and manufacturing companies, needing more than $100,000 to get started. Meanwhile, startups in accounting, online retail, construction, and landscaping were most likely to get started with under $5,000 in startup costs. 

In our Program, entrepreneurs can set the fundraising target of $$ as much as they want, but we require you to raise a minimum of $5,000. 

Pricing

The Program is offered at $997 per person with 50% off for the second person in the same team. Registration is at Global Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program. 

As for Underserved entrepreneurs, the Program is offered at $497 per person, thanks to the support from Design Your Venture School. We do offer certain discount up to 100% free or fellowship on case-by-case basis. 

Note: The Program is an IP of Design Your Venture School. The Program’s License Right and Fee are being supported by Friends For Impact, Inc., a 501(c)3 organization for public interest, registered under New York State’s Not-For-Profit Corporation Laws. 

Program Content

As Steve Jobs has said, Strategy is top element out of three, besides People and Culture, to build a successful business. Meanwhile, Technology is the key to scale.

Our aim is not just about how much $$ that you could raise or how much $$ in sales that you could make. Our Program is to help you personalize your approach to acquire customers and raise fund using Executable Strategies and Generative AI Toolset, so you could replicate the process in the next phase of Commercialization. Throughout the program, you will practically train your own mind and build out your core power, i.e. your expertise, assets and capabilities, make them aligned with your business, and use Generative AI toolset to scale your impact. These strategies in turn will help you not to fail, but survive and sustain in a long run.

Week 1 - Exploration

I – Mindset to activate

  1. If You Talk about it, it’s a Dream. If You Envision it, it’s Possible. If You Schedule it, it’s Real – Tony Robbins.
  2. You are willing to upgrade your Mindset and Core Power and make them aligned with What you want to build.
  3. You are willing to reach out and build out your Network of Mentors and Experts who can help you.
  4. You are willing to learn to build your own System of Executable Strategies.
  5. You are committed to Execute to reach your Startup Goal and Wealth Goal.

II – Fieldwork to put your skin in the game

We require every entrepreneur to be able to build their own Personal Brand with below steps.

  1. You have a clear Why with a clear Mindset or clear State of Mind.
  2. Find your Core Power, i.e. your credibility, expertise and capabilities with track record. 
  3. Build your honest and raw Personal Story for branding purpose based on your Core Power.
  4. Upgrade and align your Core Power and your Personal Story with your business. 
  5. Start writing content for your Crowdfunding campaign using your story.

III – Generative AI Toolset to implement – TBA

IV – Expert Speaker Series – TBA

Week 2 - Customer Discovery

I – Mindset to activate:

  1. If you can’t sell your own product, who can?
  2. If someone willing to pay for your product, even when it is not available yet, that means your product may have customers.

II – Fieldwork to put your skin in the game:

We require every entrepreneur to be able to apply our Branding & Marketing strategies below to gain Traction (users) and Paying Customers (i.e. Presales).

  1. Learn our Branding & Marketing Strategies: SEE (Social – Event – Email) to find out Who are your Target Clients. You are required to personally serve these clients and be able to sell products to them.
  2. Learn our Branding & Marketing Tactics: SIV (Story – Image – Video) to execute on Branding & Marketing Strategies. You are required to apply Generate AI tools to save time and cost.
  3. Update your content on Crowdfunding campaign in terms of target clients and market size, and specific goal of $$ in terms of sales and funding. 

III – Generative AI Toolset to implement – TBA

IV – Expert Speaker Series – TBA

Week 3 - Validation

I – Mindset to activate:

  1. Sales is Service for Client.
  2. Sales is Oxygen for Your Own Business.

  3. The classic Strategy on Not-to-Fail is Sales (revenue generating), Recurring Sales (cashflow generating), and More Recurring Sales (correct market demand, i.e. more and more customers want your product). 

II – Fieldwork to put your skin in the game:

We require every entrepreneur to be able to set up their own Personal Marketing funnel and kick off their Crowdfunding.

  1. Setup your own Personal Marketing funnel for Sales/Fundraising purposes, using 3Ps strategy: Personal Story – Pitch – Product. 
  2. Continue pushing for Tractions and Paying Customers using SEE.
  3. Update content on Crowdfunding campaign, using SIV tactics.
  4. Kick off your Crowdfunding campaign and drive traffic from your SEE system. Track who back you and try to understand their feedback, comments, questions.
  5. Do not forget to include an honest & transparent Disclaimer for your Crowdfunding’s backers that your startup may fail and they may not receive your product. In that case, you will deliver an alternative and suitable reward. Please make sure 100% that you can deliver. Our suggestion is to use POD for alternative rewards.

III – Generative AI Toolset to implement – TBA

IV – Expert Speaker Series – TBA

Week 4 - Prototyping

I – Mindset to activate:

  1. Never Lose Money – Warren Buffett.
  2. The best investment is to invest in yourself – requoted from Warren Buffet.

II – Fieldwork to put your skin in the game:

We require every entrepreneur to be able to showcase the Prototype of their Product and pitch the Prototype of their Business Model.

  1. Showcase the Prototype of Product. Backup with data of Traction and Paying Customers.
  2. Pitch the Prototype of Business Model. Refine your Storytelling with data of Traction & Paying Customers. Create your own Pitching video using SIV tactics and Generative AI. Practice your Pitch in front of a mirror.
  3. Structure your Business model, focusing on Pricing, Distribution and Financing, based on CIF structure: Core – Industry – Funding. Refine and Redesign if needed.
  4. Update your Prototype of Product and Business Model on Crowdfunding campaign.
  5. Continue pushing for funding from Crowd with SEE strategies.

III – Generative AI Toolset to implement – TBA

IV – Expert Speaker Series – TBA

Week 5 - Launch your MVP

I – Mindset to activate:

  1. I will fail and fail again until I succeed – Tim Draper

II – Fieldwork to put your skin in the game:

We require every entrepreneur to be able to:

  1. Launch your MVP with minimum 20 end-users and 2 paying customers.
  2. Raise a minimum of $5,000.
  3. Build your own System of Executable Strategies in terms of Sales and Fundraising at a minimum level of cost.
  4. Continue upgrading your MVP with 3R Strategy: Refine – Redesign – Replicate. 
  5. Start preparing to move to the next phase of Commercialization.

III – Generative AI Toolset to implement – TBA

IV – Expert Speaker Series – TBA

After Launch - Next is Commercialization

Your Execution is the Key to Success of Your Business.

Our aim is not just about how much $$ you could raise or how much sales in $$ you could make. As Steve Jobs has said, Strategy is top element out of three, besides People and Culture, to build a successful business. Meanwhile, Technology is the key to scale.

Our Program is to help you personalize your approach to acquire customers and raise fund using Executable Strategies and Generative AI Toolset. The personalized approach in turn will help you not to fail, and be able to survive and sustain in a long run. 

Just please keep in mind – Your Execution depends on You and Only You. 

Fail
  1. Misread market demand.
  2. Run out of money.
Survive
  1. Determine right market demand.
  2. Start small to gain traction. Target at $5,000. Do not burn money.
Sustain
  1. Monitor market demand. Retest over time.
  2. Replicate recurring revenue stream. Target at MRR > $10,000, or ARR > $100,000.

Post-program Support

Upon graduation, founders are invited to join our Impact Community. We understand it may take a while for our founders to take off the ground. So we build out a community with allyship and safe culture for global entrepreneurs to hang out, mingle and grow. 

Fundraising Practice

Need funding? Practice your fundraising skills and be the driver: create an initiative, execute it, and make it a success. For more details, please check our support on Friends For Impact, Inc.

Allies, Mentors, Industry Experts

Facing challenges? Whenever you need, our experts and mentors are here to help. More details, please join our Venture HUB Community where you can make essential connections. Free membership is available.

Tech-as-a-Service

No time or not a tech savvy founder? We support you with our digital services and free resources at minimum cost. More details at CUNY Tech Incubator at Queens College.

Fellowship

We offer Fellowship on Health Equity & Sustainability on case-by-case basis. For example, a Fellowship is provided to a Global EIR who creates a new type of F&B product which enhances nutrition and health value and subsequently, the business helps creating more jobs.

Benefits

Fellows are supported with below benefits.

Training Fee Reimbursement

Fellows are covered for training expenses of the Program. The program selects those entrepreneurs who are already working toward solutions to prevent or reduce diseases, improve consumer health, change consumer lifestyles, and create more sustainable living.

New York Centric Resources

Fellows can access to Tech Incubator at Queens College, which provides all necessary New York centric resources on how to set up a businesses in New York. Fellows can also learn about different programs provided by NYCEDC or U.S. Small Business Administration.

Global Entrepreneur Exposure

International Fellows can gain global exposure about New York Entrepreneurs Community. Fellows are invited to participate the on-site visit for cultural exchange with necessary travel arrangements. Travel and accommodation expenses are covered on case-by-case basis.

Support Our Fellows

Email us: donate@friendsforimpact.org

Please support Our Fellows by:

  1. Mail a check with FFI@University in the memo line to:
    Friends For Impact, Inc., c/o Tech Incubator at Queens College, CEP Hall #2, 65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY 11367, United States. 
  2. Make a stock gift or to include FFI@University in your estate plans by contacting FFI@University Donation team. Please email us before any stock or cash wire donation. If you would like to make a gift of mutual funds, or restricted or closely held securities, please email us for instructions.
  3. Make your online gift using our PayPal’s Donation account. Please email us for instruction.

All contributions to FFI@University Program are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Tax receipt comes directly from Friends For Impact, Inc. 

Partner with us

Want to know more about the Program and How to get involved? Email us at: hello@FFI.University 

Our Collective Partners

Friends For Impact, Inc., is located at Tech Incubator at Queens College, CEP Hall #2, 65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY 11367, United States. 

Copyright © 2022 FFI@University, Friends For Impact, Inc., 501(c)3 Nor-for-Profit Organization. All rights reserved.